Taken
by A Ginger named Heather Lee
Summary: After the Quarter Quell Katniss gets taken by the Caoitol instead of Peeta. It does a lot of damage to Peeta, but what kind of condition is Katniss in after being in the hands of the Capitol? Most of it is on Peeta's POV.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own The Hunger Games… Suzanne Collins does.**

Peeta POV

I wake up and everything is too bright. After a few minutes I'm able to look around. I'm in a hospital bed and there are wires in my arms. I see Beetee in a hospital bed across from me and instantly I think of her. "Katniss…" I whisper to myself. I have to find her. The last thing I remember is her blowing out the force field in the arena. We were probably taken by the Capitol, which is most likely where we are now. If we are in the Capitol then she is in a lot of danger.

I rip the wires from my arms, which sets off some kind of alarm, and head towards the door. It's not locked and it opens easily. I walk down a few hallways when I hear voices behind a door. I stop and listen closer. It's Haymitch, Finnick and someone else. When I open the door I find out that I was right and the strange voice belongs to Plutarch, the Head Gamemaker. They all look at me. "Where is she?" I ask. Haymitch ignores my question, "Peeta, why don't you come and join us? You look hungry." That's when I notice that they're eating. I sit in a chair, "Haymitch, where is she?" He looks up at me and takes a deep breath. "Peeta, you are in a hovercraft heading for District 13. District 12 was bombed with fire bombs by the Capitol. 13 is the main source of the rebellion. There was always a plan for the rebels to break the tributes out of the arena. But it was difficult, the Capitol was there too. They wanted to get the tributes out as well.-" I cut him off. "Where is she?" I ask with more panic in my voice. I don't like what he's saying.

Haymitch clears his throat before he speaks. "Peeta, they took her. I'm sorry." Tears start streaming down my face. I squeeze me eyes shut and imagine her face. I can't even imagine what they could be doing to her. "Why didn't you take her out of the arena first?" I say, slamming my fist down on the table. "Peeta, President Coin, the rebel leader, said that you would be more useful to the war efforts. She said that we needed you with us because of your ability with words." I take a minute to let all of Haymitch's words sink in. "No…" I say. "Peeta, I think you need your rest. I'll call for a doctor to take you back to the hospital." "No!" I yell. Then I send a lamp flying across the room, shortly after that a vase follows. Plutarch calls for someone one a phone and before I know it there are doctors in the room and I feel a needle in my arm. Then everything goes black.

The next time I wake up I'm back in my hospital bed and I'm in restraints. A nurse come in and tries to get me to eat something but I pretend that she isn't there. The way I see it, Katniss is being tortured and will probably die soon and I don't want to live in a world without her in it. Until I find out a way to help her, this is my plan. I let myself fall asleep again but the next time I wake up I'm greeted by Haymitch and we are in a different room than last time. "Peeta, we're no longer on the hovercraft. We are in District 13, this is your new home." "Did my family make it?" I ask. This is the first time I have thought about my family in a long time. He shakes his head, "I'm sorry." I take a deep breath. "Haymitch, I have to do something to help Katniss. She's all I have left." "Well," He says. "I'll talk to Coin and see what I can do but right now I need to talk to someone about getting you discharged from the hospital, as long as you're not planning on throwing breakable things at walls anymore." "No." I say. "I'm no use to Katniss while I'm sitting in the hospital." He just nods and leaves the room.

In ten minutes there is someone in my hospital room taking off my restraints. I'm discharged from the hospital and a soldier named Boggs takes me around 13. He tells me where everything is and how the days work. We are supposed to stick our arms in a little slot in the wall in our rooms and it tattoos the day's schedule on them. I learn where the lunch room, training center, and command are among other rooms. I am also told that I will be called Soldier Mellark because I am old enough to be put in the rebel army. When he is done showing me around he takes me to my room. I don't have a schedule for today so I just walk around district, doing nothing imparticular.

When it's time to I go to lunch I sit at a table by myself. I thought about sitting with the Everdeens and the Hawthornes but I decide against it. I feel bad for missing her when I see her family. Plus I don't really need to see Gale right now. I sit by myself and start to eat the amount of food portion I am allowed. I take a few bites and feel sick. I can't eat this while they are probably starving her in the Capitol. It's not fair. I push my tray away from me and hang my head in my hands. I had on mission going into the arena, get Katniss out, and I failed.

Then I feel a hand on my shoulder. "She wouldn't want to see you like this you know." I look up, "Prim?" I say. She leans foreword and hugs me. "Peeta, she loves you. She might not have realized it but I could tell. I saw it her every time she saw you, talked to you, and even kissed you. She loves love you, I'm sure of it." I looked down at her, "You miss her, don't you." I'm say this not as a question, but as a statement. "Yeah." She said, her voice dropping a little. "Me too." I say. She hugs me a little tighter for a second and then lets go before heading back to her mom to finish her lunch.

I manage to eat a few more bites of my lunch, for Katniss. I stand up to go dump my tray and find myself face to face with Gale. "Gale?" I ask. "Look I don't want to be here talking to you as much as you don't want me to be here but we're both needed in command." He says. I simply nod my head, dump my tray, and follow him. We walk through the hallways, me following him because I still don't really know my way around thirteen. I can't help but notice that just about everyone we pass stares at us, and if they aren't staring, they're whispering. I guess that Gale notices it too because he starts to walk faster.

When we get there I recognize Haymitch and Plutarch but I could guess which person in the room is Coin because everyone else is sitting except for her. There is something about her that I don't like. I can't quite put my finger on it but it tells me not to trust her. I sit down next to Haymitch and the meeting begins. "Hello everyone, I would like to address the matter of Soldier Peeta Mellark today. He has agreed to help the rebel forces." There is applause and Coin tells everyone to be quiet. "Now, Soldier Mellark, if you're up for it we would like to send you to District 8. They have been attacked and we would like you to go and visit the wounded." I give her a nod and she continues talking. "The trip is scheduled for Thursday morning and since today is Monday, Soldier Mellark, you have two days to get into shape." She looks across the room at Haymitch, "Haymitch, take him to the training center." He nods and we both stand up.

We leave the room and we start walking to the training center when he stops for a second. He turns to me, "How are you holding up?" I sigh, "Not well, but I'll be fine. I have to do this, for Katniss." He gives me a nod and we spend the rest of our trip to the training center in silence.


	2. Chapter 2

Peeta POV

When I open the train center doors I stop to look around a little. There are people running, assembling and firing guns, rock and rope climbing, and an archery station. I went over to one of the trainers and he said, "Hi Soldier Mellark." "How do you…never mind. Where should I start?" I was going to ask him how he knew my name but being in the games, I don't have to ask that question anymore. "Well," he said looking at a schedule he has in his hands. "You can start by running and then make your way over to the archery station." "Yes sir." I said. Then I walked over to a group of people that were getting ready to run on a track that looked like it was ten miles long. The track goes along the walls of the track on the different stations are inside the track oval.

Everyone at the track station was stretching so I joined in next to a girl with blonde hair, lighter than my own, that is pulled back into a ponytail and brown eyes. "Hi." I said, as I started stretching my legs by doing toe touches. "Hi." She said, then she looked at me. "You're Peeta Mellark aren't you?" I give her a nod. "Everyone was wondering how you were doing after the arena exploded." I wince when she mentioned the arena. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. It's just everyone was wondering if you were okay." "It's fine." I say. "You didn't mean it."

We stretch for another minute before she looks at me. "I never introduced my self did I?" She laughs at herself for a second. Then she holds out her hand for me to shake. "My name is Savannah Summerton, I came here from District 7 about a year ago." I shake her hand and smile, she seems like someone I would be friends with back in 12. Then I remember, Katniss said something like that about Thresh in our first games. "How old are you?" I ask. She laughs a little, "I bit of a random question but I'm sixteen. You're seventeen now, aren't you?" I think about it for a second, she right. "Yeah, but I sort of missed my birthday. It was a good day though." She looks confused, "How do you know?" She asks. I look down at my fidgeting hands and then answer. "Because she was still with me." In a very quiet voice she says, "You miss her, don't you?" I look her in the eyes, "Yeah, but I haven't given up. I'm going to get her back." She nods and then a whistle bows signaling for us to start running.

Along the way we ask each other questions. I learn that she has an older sister who is nineteen and a younger brother who is eleven so he isn't in the rebel army yet. Her siblings, parents, and her all made it to 13. She also tells me what room she stays in, if I ever need to talk to anyone. We are jogging along when she points to the archery station, "Look, there's my sister." But when I look I don't see her sister. I see Katniss, with her long braid, focusing intently on one of the targets. Without thinking I take off running towards her. I get about halfway there when I blink. Then I see a girl with blonde hair flowing down her back, Savannah's sister. I stop when I don't see Katniss anymore. I sit in the grass and hang my head in my hands.

I take deep breaths. I saw her, at least I thought I did. I hear whistles going off and when I look up I see Savannah running towards me. She is really fast and is easily out running the trainers chasing after her. "Peeta are you okay?" She asks, obviously worried about why I started running towards her sister. "She- she was there." I say motioning towards the archery station. She looks at me sympathetically, "Come on." She said pulling me up from where I'm sitting.

Then she walks over to one of the guards chasing her. She whispers something to him but I do know she says something about hallucinations and a hospital. He gives her a nod and she comes towards me. "Peeta, I'm going to take you to the hospital to make sure you're alright, okay?" I nod and she leads me out of the training center towards the hospital. We don't talk on the way there and when we get there she tells the doctor what happened. The doctor takes me to a hospital room and tells me to sit on the bed and wait for her because she has to make a phone call. Five minutes later she comes back in and does basic things like take me temperature and shine a flashlight in my eyes.

Twenty minutes after that she leaves and Haymitch come in. "Boy," He says. "At least you're as bad as Finnick." "What?" I ask. He sighs, "You miss her so much your delusional. But Finnick does nothing but sit in the hospital and tie knots in a piece of rope." "Haymitch, he was fine. I saw him the first time I woke up on the hovercraft." I say confused. "Peeta, they took Annie." I think for a second, Annie is the person they used against Finnick in the section of the arena with the jabberjays.

"Haymitch, how long have we been out of the arena?" "It'll two weeks tomorrow." I pains my to think how much damage the Capitol can probably do in to weeks. "Why was I on the hovercraft for twelve days?" I ask. "You had damage to you spine and a lot of other things. You were unconscious for a week and after that they kept you sedated, they could tell by the faces you were make in your sleep that you were in a lot of pain. You had to stay on the hovercraft until they thought you were stable enough to move. They were able to fix you up pretty good and there was no damage to you face, which I thought you might see as a bonus."

I bury my face in the pillow, and think. Obviously I can't function without her and I can't help the war if I can't function. Could care less about the war, but I finally have something to use to get Coin to save Katniss. I sit up, "We have to get her back. You can let me talk to Coin, I'll reason with her." He holds his hand up to stop me, "No need. They're putting together a rescue team as we speak." I jump out of the bed, "Haymitch, I have to go. You can't expect me to stay behind and wait for her to come back, do you?" I ask. He shakes his head, "Let's go to command and see what Coin thinks."

Before he even gets out of his chair I'm out the door. In what seems like seconds I'm at command. I didn't know how to get there but I guess my mind remember something from Gale leading me there this morning. When I walk in I look around the room to see everyone looking at maps. Coin looks up at me and before she even gets to talk I start speaking. "I have to go. I can't stay here when there are people going to save her." She sighs, "No, it's far too dangerous." I look her straight in the eyes, "It would be far more dangerous to leave me here." She glares back, "Is that a threat Soldier Mellark?" By now everyone in the room is watching us. "It is actually. Do you expect me to come this far and quit?" She crosses her arms over her chest, "I admire your nerve kid, but do you think you can handle it?" By now I can tell that she is about to give in. "Well," I say. "I've survived to games, how hard could it be." What she does next surprises me, she actually laughs. Then she hold her hand out for me to shake. When I do she says, "Welcome aboard." I feel myself smile as she starts showing me the planes of how the mission will go down.

We are coming in through the roof after injecting some kind of knockout gas into the air vents. Then we go through a lot of hallways, disassemble some alarms, and come to the cells. Most likely three of the cells will be guarded, one for Annie, one for Johanna, and one for Katniss. We all doubt that Enobaria is being held prisoner with her being for two and all. I read a list of names of the people that are going on the mission. Only a two of them stand out, Boggs and Gale. If what Haymitch said is true, he isn't well enough to go. We are all instructed to get a lot of sleep and be at Hanger 4 first thing in the morning. I realize now that it's time for dinner so I head to the lunch room.

I sit by Prim and her mom to tell them the good news. After I do Prim says, "Really! Thank you so much for telling us Peeta and don't worry, your secret is safe with us." I didn't realize until then that I probably wasn't supposed to tell anyone. It doesn't matter to me though, they deserve to know. They are her family after all. I finish my all of my dinner and Prim just laughs a little, remembering how I wasn't eating at lunch. When I stand up to go dump my tray I notice Savannah sitting by her family. She sees me after I dump my tray and comes over to where I am. "Peeta, are you feeling better?" She asks. I pull her off to the side of the lunch room, "Savannah, we're getting her tomorrow." A big smile, though not as big as mine, comes to her face. "That's great!" She says. "Good luck." She says as she starts walking back to her table. "Thanks." I say. Then I walk back to my room and fall asleep as soon as my head hits my pillow.


	3. Chapter 3

Peeta POV

I wake up the next morning and lay in bed for a few minutes to give myself sometime to think. I am rescuing Katniss today. I don't know what they have done to her but I can't think about that right now. All I need to think about is having her in my arms again. With that I get out of bed and put on my grey clothing and matching grey tennis shoes. Then I rush to Hanger 4.

When I get there I see a lot of the other troops getting suited up for the mission and others that are eating breakfast. I start walking over to the place where everyone is getting breakfast but stop. I can eat tonight, with Katniss, so I grab a bottle of water and head over to the men handing out the suits. I put on my suit and am issued a basic gun that anyone with a brain can fire, which is good because I have had no training at all. I am also given a tracking device incase I get lost in the Capitol. Then I see Boggs. I walk over to him, "Boggs, I have to be the one to rescue Katniss." "And why should I let you have that job? I know someone else that probably wants that job." "Who?" I ask, honestly curious. He looks around the room for a second before he stops and points to Gale. No, I can't let that happen, I have to give him a reason why it should be me. "She's all I have left," I say, "and I asked you, did he ask you?" He shakes his head, "I see your point. Fine, after we get into her cell you can help her." I nod, "Thank you."

After that I head to the hovercraft that we will be riding in and take my seat. Within twenty minutes the rest of the people going on the mission are seated as well. When we leave it is six o'clock in the morning.

The ride isn't as long as I thought it would be, the army hovercrafts fly faster than the ones that are commissioned for trips to the districts. It takes about five hours to get there but not very many people talk along the way. As for me, I think about Katniss for the whole five hours, her hair, her eyes, and everything else about her. Then I think about what the Capitol has probably done to her and it fills me with rage. By the time we arrive in the Capitol I am ready to fight whatever is thrown at me.

We land on the roof at eleven o'clock. All of the seatbelts are released and everyone gets off of the hovercraft. As I step on the roof I see Gale talking to Boggs, probably asking if he gets to rescue Katniss. I see Boggs shake his head and point to me. I quickly look away, I don't need to have to deal with Gale today. I turn around and don't see the hovercraft, it's invisible but there are no more soldiers coming from the spot where it was so it has probably left and gone to sit on a nearby roof.

I look over to Boggs again and he is ordering all of the soldiers into groups and over to a door. We are grouped based on who we are rescuing. Then Katniss' rescue team, along with the other teams start moving. Since we are on the roof and Annie, Johanna, and Katniss are in the basement holding cells, we have a long way to go. I follow the rest of the soldiers into the building. I follow for a while only hearing Boggs and some of the other head soldiers telling people to disable alarms. When I hear someone say, "Three more floors after these stairs!" I know it is about to get worse, and it does. When we go down the next stair case and turn a corner there are two guards. Gunfire goes off and they both go down. We round another corner and there are five guards more guns go off but this time the fire comes from both sides. The guards go down but not before some of our soldiers are wounded. The wounded get help from the other soldiers and we keep moving.

The next floors are like this too. Just about every time we round a corner there are more guards and more of our soldiers wounded, but we get back up and keep moving. When we get to the holding cells there aren't any guards but there are alarms on every cell door. One of the technical team people says, "Three of the alarms will have a green light, the rest will be red. When you find one with a green light yell for help." With that we all start searching. It doesn't take to long though, in the second row of cells there are three in a row with green lights.

The tech team members show up and I realize that the rescue teams for Annie and Johanna have mad there way down here as well. The tech team opens the first door and an alarm goes off. I peer inside the cell and see Johanna, then I move down to the next cell, when the open it another alarm goes off and I see that this cell holds Annie. When we move to the last door the tech team has to work harder to open this door probably because it holds Katniss. When it opens another alarm goes off and I rush inside the cell.

I see Katniss in the corner sitting in the fetal position. She is wearing a black outfit that is nt only full of holes but also has blood stains and burn marks on it. Her body is covered in bruises, cuts, and burns. She has her hands up over her ears and her eyes are tightly squeezed shut. I walk over and kneel down in front of her. I carefully place my hands on top of hers and lower them from her ears. She slowly opens her eyes and looks at me. Then she gasps, "You're here. You came." She puts one hand on the side of my face on the other hand on the side of my face. "You… are you really here?" "Yes Katniss." I say. "I'm going to take you home." She closes her eyes tightly again, makes her hands fists, and presses them to her temples. What is she doing? She starts shaking her head, "No," she says, "You're not real. There is no home, Peeta would know that. Home is gone, there is no home." I lean foreword and kiss her forehead. "Katniss, I'm going to take you to you to your new home, District 13." She moves her hands and opens her eyes. "Okay, I believe you." I help her up off of the floor, and then a louder alarm goes off. Katniss covers her ears and closes her eyes again. Boggs says, "Peeta, we don't have time for this. We need to move."

I nod and pick her up. She leans her head against my chest but she keeps her eyes closed and doesn't move her hands. We have to come out a different way than we came in but we will still end up on the roof. I hand my gun to someone else and then several soldiers cover me because I am carrying Katniss. There are more guards and more gunfire. Every time shots go off presses her head harder against my chest. When we arrive on the roof everyone gets into the hovercraft and we leave. We were only in the Capitol for an hour and a half.

I carry Katniss over to one of the beds that are set up and lay her down. I start to walk away to get a chair so I can sit next to her bed when she grabs my arm. "Peeta…" I wait a few seconds but that's all she says. She moves over and pulls me down next to her. I pull her onto my lap and kiss her forehead. I wrap my arms around her and she lays her head against my chest. "I missed you." She says. "I missed you too." She takes a deep breath. "I was… scared… and hurt." When she says hurt I realize that I might be hurting her by having my arms around her, so I let her go. She puts my arms back around her though, "No," she says, "it hurts more when you let go." I hold her and she ends up falling asleep.

She sleeps for about two hours before her nightmare starts. She starts screaming and thrashing around. "Peeta! Peeta run!" "Katniss you're dreaming, wake up." She wakes up, crying. "Katniss it's okay." She starts looking around the room, "No." She whispered. She looks back at me, "Peeta, how did you get here?" "Katniss what are you talking about?" I say. I look across the room and see Gale, he looks just about as unsure as I do. I give him a nod and he gets up and walks over to one of the emergency doctors' rooms. I look back at Katniss who has curled up in the fetal position and has her hands pressed over her ears. "Katniss, it's okay. They can't hurt you anymore." I say. She just shakes her head and starts rocking back and forth.

Gale comes back with a doctor and by that time a lot of the other soldiers are looking at us. The doctor looks at me, "My name is Dr. Vallen." She holds out her hand for me to shake and I do I also open my mouth to speak when she says, "And I know who you are Peeta, along with Katniss. So, when did this start?" "She woke up from a nightmare and started acting like this." I say. Dr. Vallen nods her head and she looks around. Then she looks back at me, "Soldier Hawthorne said that she asked you why you were here. She may not think that she is here on the hovercraft, I need you to ask her where she thinks she is and who is in the room. I give her a nod and turn to Katniss. "Katniss, I need to ask you a question." She slowly opens her eyes and takes her hands off of her ears, but she stays curled up. "Where are we?" I ask. "We are in my cell." She says quietly, she voice shaking. "Is it just us in here?" I say slowly. She shakes her head, "Cameras."

I look back at Dr. Vallen, she sighs. "Well, since she can't here me, would you like to know what's going on?" I nod. She continues, "She thinks that she dreamt the rescue and that she is still in the Capitol." "Why?" I ask. "I'm going to have to do further tests to see. Can you get her into my examination room?" "I'll try." I say. I look back at Katniss who has her eyes closed and her hands over her ears again. "Katniss…" I say, she moves her hands. "Katniss we have to go." She grabs my arm and shakes her head. "No. They'll hurt you." "It'll be fine, I promise." I stand up and she pulls on my arm as hard as she can, which isn't very hard since she's lost a lot of strength in the Capitol. I look at the Dr. Vallen. "What should I do?" She looks at Katniss, "Pick her up." I do as the Dr. Vallen says but Katniss starts crying, "Peeta no." I set her back down on the bed and look at Dr. Vallen again. "I can't do this to her." I sit back on the bed next to Katniss and start rubbing circles on her back, trying to get her to stop crying.

"Fine." Dr. Vallen says. Then she turns and looks around the room at the other soldiers. "You, you, you, and you. Help me get her to my examination room." I stand up, "Why do you need four soldiers?" I ask confused. "Watch." That's all she says. The soldiers walk up to Katniss and she starts screaming again. "Peeta! Peeta help me! Please, help me!" She is kicking, screaming, and crying all at the same time and it feels like my heart is being ripped in half. I take a step towards her. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Dr. Vallen Says. I glare at her, "I'm following her." I say. She shrugs her shoulders a little and we both follow Katniss into the examination room.

**Sorry I haven't posted in so long. My cousins came in from Hawaii and I was sick last week so…. Sorry. I hope you guys are enjoying my story! Reviews are always appreciated :)**


	4. Chapter 4

Peeta POV

Once the four soldiers get Katniss strapped down on the examination table Doctor Vallen comes out with a needle. As soon as Katniss sees it she screams louder than she was earlier. "Well that's interesting." Dr. Vallen says. "What is that?" I ask her. "It a sedative, all it's going to do is make her sleep but that obviously isn't what she thinks it is." I turn to Katniss. "Katniss, it's okay. She is trying to help you." "No…" She says. "not the green liquid." "What green liquid?" I ask. She closes her eyes and shakes her head, "Not the green liquid…"

I turn back to Dr. Vallen, "Please don't give it to her. I'll stay and make her calm down." She shakes her head, "I'm sorry but we need to run some tests which we can't do

if she is delusional or if you're here. We are going to have to look into the mysterious green liquid. Whatever it is, she has probably been injected with it." I know it's useless to argue any further and if it will help her then I have to let it happen. I give Dr. Vallen a nod and walk over to Katniss' bed. I kiss her forehead and whisper in her ear, "Katniss I love you. It will be okay." Then without looking back I leave.

I sit right outside the door and hear her scream. The screaming stops suddenly and I know she's been sedated. I sit by the door for so long that apparently I fall asleep because the next thing I know someone is waking me up. "Peeta, wake up." It takes me a few seconds but I sit up, open my eyes, and am face to face with Dr. Vallen. "Peeta the check up is over. She wants to see you." I stand up, "Did you do the tests?" "No." She says. "The examination lasted two hours. We will be arriving in District 13 in about fifteen minutes or so. We'll run the tests when we get there and get the results to you as soon as possible." I nod and follow her back into the room.

Katniss is sitting on the table, instead of being strapped to it. I ask Dr. Vallen, "Does she know where she is?" She gives me a nod and I walk over to Katniss. I sit next to her and she crawls onto my lap and wraps her arms around me. "How are you feeling?" I ask, rubbing circles on her back. "I want to go home, to twelve." She says quietly. I sigh, "Me too. But there is nothing in twelve anymore, you're all I have left." A tear falls down her cheek, "I'm sorry Peeta. It's all my fault." "No." I say. "We did it together, we share the blame. I'm just happy you're okay."

She nods and pulls herself closer to me, then she shivers. I notice that she is no longer wearing her black Capitol outfit, instead she is wearing a paper thin hospital gown. I put one of my hands on her arms and she is freezing. "Katniss, you're cold." I look over to Dr. Vallen "Do you have a change of District 13 issued clothing?" She shakes her head, "No, but I have a blanket. I'll go get it." She turns to a closet in the corner of the room and pulls out a thick flannel blanket. She hands it to me and I wrap it around Katniss.

"We're landing in ten minutes so you to might want to get to an exit. Katniss, I'll get you your test results back tomorrow." Dr. Vallen says. Katniss and I nod but I say, "Katniss, can I talk to Dr. Vallen for a minute?" She nods and steps outside the room. "What do you want to talk to me about?" She asks. "What did you do during the examination?" She shrugs her shoulders. "I took a blood sample and cleaned her up, then she woke up and I asked her some questions." "What kind of questions?" I ask. "If you must know we asked her a variety of things. We asked her about when she was little, about her home, her family, the games, you, and finally her time in the Capitol." I shake my head, "How did she react to the different questions?" "When we asked her about her home, when she was little, and her family she seemed upset, but anyone would, a lot of that stuff isn't the same anymore. When we asked her about you she got happier, she even blushed. When we asked her about the games she mumbled a lot, she also cried. She asked for you several times but I told her we had to finish with the questions first."

I stop her, "She asked for me and you wouldn't let me help her?" She sighs, "Peeta, if you came in I would have had to have stopped and I still need to ask her about the Capitol." I nod and she continues. "When we asked her about the Capitol she got worse." "Worse how?" I ask. "She started shaking, she kept crying, she pressed her hands to her ears her and shook her head. She pressed her hands to her ears when I asked the third question but she didn't answer any of the Capitol questions. I stopped before she started screaming but I could tell she was about to have a meltdown." I run one of my hands through my hair, "What are you saying?" I ask, I can tell she's trying to get to a point.

"Peeta," she says, "I need the test results back to be sure but I know that she isn't mentally stable." "So you think that she's mad, like Annie?" "I think she's worse than Annie. I'll be able to tell you more when we get the test results back, and if you want to know what happened in the Capitol I would ask Johanna." I didn't even think to ask how Johanna and Annie are. "How is she?" I ask. "Badly beaten but she doesn't seem to be mentally unstable." I nod, "And Annie?" "Annie is just like she was before. Everyone thinks that she was just being held to mess with Finnick." I shake my head. "Then why did they do that to Katniss?" "Peeta they're trying to break you permanently, so you can't help the war effort. They want you here, helping her." I look towards they door where I know Katniss is patiently waiting on the other side. "Well," I say, "It looks like they're going to get their wish." Then I walk out.

When I get outside of the room I see Katniss sitting on the bench that I fell asleep on, she has her arms holding her knees to her chest. When she looks up and sees me she smiles. "Are you ready?" I ask. She nods, "I want to see Prim." "Of course you can see Prim." I say, smiling. She puts her feet down and they touch the floor. As soon as her feet hit the floor she gasps and pulls them back onto the bench. "What is it?" I ask.

Katniss POV

"It's cold." Suddenly I feel the freezing cold floors of the Capitol building. I close my eyes tightly and push my hands to my temple. No, not real. Peeta is here. Peeta wasn't in the Capitol.

Peeta POV

"Peeta!" She screams, her eyes still closed. I sit down next to her and wrap my arms around her. "Katniss, I'm right here. It's okay." She shakes her head and the blanket falls to the floor. I pick it back up and wrap it around her. I pulls her onto my lap and hold her. I whisper to her, "Katniss, I'm right here and I'm going to stay with you… always." As soon as I'm done talking her eyes open slowly, then she carefully moves her hands. She grabs one of my ands and quietly says, "You said that to me before, didn't you?" I nod, but I'm a little confused. I thought she would remember something like that, but then again she was falling asleep when that conversation happened. "Do you want me to carry you to your room? Or I can take you to the cafeteria if you want, it's almost time for dinner." On cue her stomach growls. I laugh a little and surprisingly she laughs to. That is the first time she's laughed in a long time, and I let myself hope that Katniss will be fine, she just needs time.

I bend down and pick her up. I know I carried her earlier but at the time I was focusing on other things, but now I am able to realize how thin and light weight she is. If it weren't for there being a blanket around her, her ribs could easily be counted through her shirt. Then my thoughts get interrupted when Katniss lays her head on my chest and says, "Peeta can you take me to where I am going to be staying? I want to change out of my hospital gown." I nod. I know exactly where her family lives, Haymitch told me incase I wanted to talk to Prim. I've never been there though, I always told them what needed to be said at breakfast.

I walk over to the main exit of the hovercraft only to see that most of the soldiers are already off and taking off their suits. I realize that I have to turn in my suit and guns so I find a chair for Katniss to sit in and tell her not to put her feet on the floor. She nods her head and I go and turn in my things. When I'm done I see Katniss in the same chair that I left her in. I pick her back up and take her to her room.

On the way Katniss says, "Stop…" I do. "What is it?" I ask, concerned. She takes a deep breath, "I want to walk." I'm surprised but it does seem like Katniss. She doesn't like to rely on people for everything. "Katniss, I don't think it's a good idea." She shakes her head, "I have to try. I don't want you carrying me into the cafeteria." I sigh, "Okay." I slowly put her down, one of her hands grabs my arm while the other is holding the blanket, and she carefully lets one foot touch the floor. As soon as it makes contact she drops the blanket and wraps both of her arms tightly around my waist. I hold her and say, "Maybe we should try this later, when you have shoes on." She nods and I bend down and pick up the blanket. We spend the rest of our trip to her room in silence.

When we get there I set her down on the bed. There are three beds and three dressers in the room, each of the dressers have four drawers. One of the dressers has a wedding photo on it and the other dresser has a blue hair ribbon on it. The only dresser left has nothing on it, this dresser has to be Katniss'. I look at her, "Katniss, this dresser is yours. That door is the bathroom." She nods and slowly lets her feet touch the floor. When they hit the floor she closes her eyes and carefully stands up. Then she walks over to her dresser and opens the top drawer.

She gasps and I ask, "Katniss, what is it?" She reaches in the drawer and pulls out her father's hunting jacket and her hunting boots. "How did they get here?" She asks. I shrug my shoulders, "Prim or your mom must have grabbed them for you." She just nods her head and lays them back in the drawer. She goes through the dresser and pulls out a set of district thirteen clothing. She walks towards the bathroom and closes the door behind her.

I stare at the bathroom door and all I can think is that she's back, and I'm never going to let anything happen to her ever again.

**Sorry it's taken me so long to update…. Time got away from me, but I hope you liked it! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**I haven't been clarifying it but whenever Peeta carries Katniss he carries her bridal style.**

Peeta POV

Katniss comes out of the bathroom a few minutes later with her teeth and hair brushed. She has changed her clothes and is wearing her District 13 issued shirt and pants. She walks over to her dresser and pulls out her hunting boots and her father's hunting jacket. She slips them on and sits on the bed next to me. I notice that her hair is dry which means that she hasn't taken a shower. "Aren't you going to take a shower?" I ask her. She shakes her head, "I… I'm really hungry, I'll take one later." She says in a quiet voice. I nod and help her up off of the bed. As soon as we are out in the hallway her hand finds mine.

We walk past a few groups of people who smile when they see us. Katniss just holds my hands tighter until they pass. When we walk into the cafeteria I see the table that consists of Katniss' family and the Hawthornes. Delly is over there too. I lead Katniss over to the food pick up line. We slide our trays down the line and different types of foods are dumped onto our trays. Katniss stares at the food with her eyes wide. They didn't give her a lot of food because if someone has been starving you aren't supposed to give them too much food at once. Also the food doesn't look very appetizing.

"Don't worry," I say. "It tastes better than it looks." She shakes her head, "This is so much food." This puts my stomach in knots. Katniss has less than half of the amount of food on my tray. I wonder how much food they gave her in the Capitol. I'll have to talk to Johanna about that, and a few other things that happened in the Capitol. I simply put my arm around her shoulders and lead her to our table. When we get there Katniss sets her tray down and is hugged by Prim, then her mother, followed by Hazelle, Posy, Rory, Vick, Gale, and finally Delly.

When Katniss gets hugged she hugs everyone back, except for Delly. Delly hugged her but Katniss got stiff and let her arms stay at her sides. After Delly let go Katniss walks over to me and grabs my arm. "Katniss, what's wrong?" I ask, confused. Without taking her eyes off of Delly she whispers, "Who is she?" I put my hand under her chin and make her look at me. "Katniss, what do you mean? It's Delly, from school back in District 12." She shakes her head, "I don't know her." She says, looking into my eyes. "Yes you do, I'm sure of it." She looks at Delly, then back at me. I see tears in her eyes, "I don't remember." She says. Then she hugs me. I wrap my arms around her and let her cry for a minute before I whisper in her ear, "Katniss, I think you should eat. Are you hungry?" She slowly lets me go, nods her head, and dries her eyes.

Then she sits down next to me and grabs my hand. She doesn't let go of my hand while she eats, which is strange, especially for Katniss. Another thing I'll have to ask Johanna about. I let her hold my hand though because if it is helping her it's helping me. I still love her, but after what she has been through I don't want to push her. Honestly I don't even want to bring it up because of how she might react.

After we eat her dinner we stand up, I hold my try in one hand and her hand in the other, she does the same with her tray. We walk over to a tray station and set our bowls in a bucket, spoons and forks in another bucket, drinking glasses in yet another bucket, and then we stack our trays at the end of the table.

I am walking her back to her room when she stops. She stares off into space and just stands there. I slip my hand out of her, now loose, grasp. I put my hands on both sides of her face. "Katniss, are you okay?" I ask. There is no response. "Can you hear me?" There is still no response. I don't know what to do, so I decide to take her to the hospital. I pick her up and run for the hospital. I run down several hallways and I come to an elevator, every elevator can take you directly to the hospital. I get in and push the hospital button.

The elevator takes off sideways and then shoots up. I look down at Katniss and see that she is still staring off into space. She has been like this for about three minutes now. The elevator keeps moving for another minute before it opens in the sign in room of the hospital. There are two opposite walls that are lined with people to sit on, one wall with a receptionist sitting behind her desk, and the wall across from the receptionist has three elevators and one set of double doors.

I take Katniss and walk up to the receptionist. When she looks up from a stack of papers and sees Katniss, she covers her mouth in shock. "Is Dr. Vallen free?" I ask. She nods her head, "Take her to room 112, Dr. Vallen will be there shortly." She picks up the phone and I go to room 112. As soon as I close the door Katniss grips my shirt and starts gasping for air. "Katniss, can you hear me?" She keeps a hold on my shirt but she nods. I lay her down on the hospital bed and get her to let go of my shirt, she then grabs my hand instead. She looks at me, "What happened?" She asks me in whisper. I take a deep breath, "I don't know. I was walking you back to your room when you stopped, you were just staring off into space. You were like that for about eight minutes." She looks at me, "What's happened to me Peeta?" I shake my head. "I don't know, but we're going to fix this. Okay?" She nods her head a little and Dr. Vallen comes in.

She goes over to a computer in the corner of the room, hits a few buttons, and a video of Katniss and I shows up on the screen. It shows me walking her to her room and her stopping. Dr. Vallen pauses the video, "I don't really know how to explain what I just saw. It could be a number of things really, but I can tell you that you are going to spend tonight in the hospital. I am going to go see if the test results are back yet. I'll be back shortly." Then she walks out of the room.

Katniss stays laying down on the bed but she rolls over so that she is facing the wall. She draws in a shaky breath and then tears spill, rolling down her cheeks. "Katniss, come here." I say gently. She sits up, moves over to me, and sits on my lap. I hold her while she cries into my shirt. She cries for about ten minutes and when she is done she kisses me on the cheek, "Thank you." She says. She lays back down and closes her eyes while I take her hand in mine and rub circles on the back of it with my thumb. Now all we have to do is wait for Dr. Vallen to come back with the test results.

**Hope you guys like it! Sorry it took my so long to update, I went to Steubenville Mid-America and then I had to help my mom can pickles… Sorry! I also wanted to ask you guys if you like the name of my story. My sister doesn't like it and she says that I need a better name if I want more people to read my story. What do you guys think? You guys can send me a message and if someone suggests a name I like I will give them credit in my notes that I have at the bottom of every chapter. Thanks!**


	6. Chapter 6

Peeta POV

Dr. Vallen rushes into the room, "Peeta come with me." She says while she grabs my arm and starts pulling me out of the room. Katniss jumps off of the bed and tries to come towards me when some doctors come in and grab her. "Katniss!" I yell. What are they doing? Once Dr. Vallen gets me out of the room she closes the door behind us. I turn around and look through the small glass window. Katniss is out of the doctors' holds and is screaming for me to come back in the room. She is crying and as soon as one of the doctors pulls a syringe out of his medical coat Katniss back herself into the corner and starts shaking her head. "No… not the green liquid… not the green liquid."

I remember her saying something about a green liquid while we were on the hovercraft. The doctor manages to insert the syringe into her arm and on seconds she is knocked out because of the drug. Dr. Vallen opens the door and lets the doctors out of the room, they take Katniss down the hallway and then out of my sight. I look at Dr. Vallen, "What did her test results say? What happened that made you act like this to a girl who just got back from being tortured by the Capitol?" I'm yelling at her by this point but I don't care. She deserves it for what she did to Katniss.

She looks both ways down the hallway and then at me, "I'll tell you, just not here. Follow me." I nod and then follow her down hallway after hallway. Finally after a few minutes she opens the door and we both walk in, we are in her office. She closes the door behind her and pulls a little cover over the little window in the door. Then she walks over and sits behind her desk. Once she is seated she motions for me to sit in the chair on the opposite side of the desk she is in. I take a seat and she begins.

"Peeta, you are familiar with tracker jackers, correct." She asks. I nod my head. "Well it seems that the Capitol has used some of their venom and injected Katniss with it." "What will it do to her?" I ask, scared of what the answer might be. "You have already seen most of its effects." "Like what?" I ask. "Her spacing-out was one incident. Another is where she might forget some things, nothing very major but still." She pauses before continuing. "Do you remember when we were on the hovercraft on she thought she was in the Capitol?" I nod my head slowly. "That happened because of the venom. It can be triggered by the way something feels or looks or sounds, sometimes even the way it smells. This is the worse effect because she becomes dangerous to herself and others." "Why would she be dangerous?" I ask, wanting more information. "She could attack someone that she thinks is from the Capitol and in the process she could hurt herself."

I rest my head in my hand while I process everything that Dr. Vallen has told me. Katniss has been injected with tracker jacker venom that is messing with her mind. I look up at Dr. Vallen. "Is there a cure?" When I ask this she smiles a little. "Well, we know of only one other case where this has happened. They were able to cure the forgetfulness and spacing-out to the point where they never happened again." I nod my head, "That's good, but what about when she thinks she is in the Capitol?" Dr. Vallen sighs, "We can work on that and get it to the point where they are only triggered by loud noises. They won't be as bad by that point though, the person on record was able to try and fight off the memories. She will no longer think that she is in the Capitol but she could do a lot of things while trying to fight off the memories." "Like what?" I ask. "She could simply sink to the floor and cover her ears, scream, and cry, or throw things, and hurt herself. Really, it's quite a long list."

"Can I see her?" She nods and leads me to the room she is in. We walk down several hallways until Dr. Vallen finally stops in front of a door. She unlocks the door and as soon as the door is cracked open I hear her. I hear Katniss crying and calling my name. I push the door open and find her on bed. She has restraints on both of her wrists, both of her ankles, and one across her waist. They have taken off her hunting jacket and boots but have left her in her District 13 grey clothing.

As soon as she sees me she tries to get up from the bed. I quickly walk over to her bed, "Katniss, its okay. I'm going to get these off of you." I say motioning towards the restraints. She nods her head and whispers, "Peeta, I'm scared." I bend down and kiss her forehead before I turn around.

"Why is she in restraints?" I ask. "I told you Peeta, she's dangerous." Dr. Vallen says. I turn and look at Katniss for a second before I turn back around and face them. "Does she look dangerous to you? Have you forgotten that she is crying and scared? That she was probably being held like this by the Capitol?" Dr. Vallen shakes her head. "Peeta, she can't leave the hospital. We have to get her treatment." I sigh. "I know. You don't even have to let her out of her room, just please let her out of the restraints."

After a moment of thinking Dr. Vallen turns around, and presses a few buttons on a key pad on the wall. I turn to Katniss and her restraints pop open. She sits up on the bed and I run over to her. I sit next to her and pull her on my lap. She is still crying when she says, "Peeta, I thought that they were going to hurt me like they did in the Capitol." "Katniss," I say, "I would never let them hurt you." She nods her head and after a few minutes she falls asleep in my arms.

**I know that this chapter isn't very long but in the next chapter I plan on writing what happened to Katniss in the Capitol. **


	7. Chapter 7

Peeta POV

Katniss has been participating in therapy for the last month now and the only symptoms of the hijacking are the 'flashbacks' that are triggered by loud noises. Today Katniss is getting released from the hospital with the condition that she has to be under near constant supervision.

While Katniss is in her last therapy session I fill out the forms for her release. There are a lot of spaces that say, 'sign here', or 'initial here'. I don't think that all of those signatures are necessary but for Katniss, I'd be willing to sign my life away.

When I finish signing the forms I take a seat in the waiting room and wait for Katniss. I also realize how much of this last month I have spent in the hospital. The only time that I have left the hospital in the last month is when Katniss was in one of her therapy sessions.

The first day that she was in the hospital I left to eat meals in the cafeteria and to sleep in my room, but it didn't end well.

_When I was gone for meals Katniss refused to eat. The doctors later told me that she wouldn't eat because she was worried about me. _

_ Later that night I left for my room so I could sleep, but I was woken up a little after eleven o'clock by a nurse knocking on my door. She had been sent by Dr. Vallen who couldn't get Katniss to go to sleep. In the hospital the patient are supposed to go to sleep at eight o'clock. Dr. Vallen had been trying to get Katniss to go to sleep for about two hours when she asked for a glass of water. Dr. Vallen decided to put a little sleep syrup into Katniss' drink. It was enough to put her asleep and keep her under for about an hour. _

_ Dr. Vallen hoped that once the medicine wore off she would be able to sleep on her own. The medicine wore off at eleven o'clock and that is when Katniss' nightmares began. She was screaming loudly and when the nurses tried to calm her down she would scream louder and thrash around, no one could get near her. _

_After hearing the nurse's story I followed her to Katniss' hospital room. When I got there I was a little surprised, the nurse told me that Katniss was screaming but she didn't tell me that she was also screaming my name. I walked over to the bed and pulled her onto my lap. At first she fought me, hitting my arms and chest, the I spoke. _

"_Katniss it's me, Peeta, please open your eyes. Slowly she opened her eyes. She looked me in the eyes for a few seconds before she laid her head on my chest, her ear placed over my heart. She closed her eyes and let a few tears escape her eyes. I wiped them away with my thumb and she grabbed my hand and held it to her cheek. "I thought I lost you." She whispered. "I'm not going anywhere." I whispered back . She opened her eyes and looked up at me, "Stay with me?" she asked. "Always." I answered. She laid down and I laid next to her, wrapping my arms around her small frame. She fell asleep with her head on my chest, listening to my steady heartbeat. _

Ever since that day I only leave her side when she is in her therapy and ever since that day I have been confused about Katniss' feelings for me. I know that I love her but I don't want to tell her if she isn't ready.

Now that Katniss is done with her therapy I'm going to pay a visit to Johanna. She can tell me more of what happened to Katniss when she was in the Capitol. She might even know how Katniss feels about me.

I'm taken out of my thoughts when Katniss walks into the waiting room. Her hair is out of it's usual braid and flowing loosely. She is wearing a set of District 13 issued gray clothing, **her hunting boots, and her father's hunting jacket. The newest addition to her day to day appearance is the big, bulky medical bracelet that she is wearing around her left wrist. It looks kind of like the bracelets that high ranking command members wear but it does different things. The bracelet monitors Katniss' heart rate, if it reaches a certain level then she is having an attack or a nightmare. The bracelet will alert the hospital and the one person that Katniss has chosen to wear a bracelet, me. (Prim and her mother are always at the hospital.) The bracelet that Katniss wears also holds a tracking device, so that we can always find her. Another thing, the bracelets are waterproof so that we can shower in the as well. To put it simply, they don't come off. She was a little scared to wear the bracelet at first but I was able to convince her that it was okay.**

I stand and walk over to her. "Are you ready to go?" She nods and slips her hand into mine. This is another thing I have gotten used to after she came back from her hijacking in the Capitol, all of the hand holding and hugging. While I'm not complaining about it, it is another thing that I have to ask Johanna about.

She nods her head and smiles, "Completely." As we walk to lunch I'm thinking about how to explain me going to visit Johanna to Katniss. I don't think that I should tell her where I'm going but I have to go. I need to find out what went on in the Capitol.

**Sorry that it took me so long to update… and please don't get mad at me over the length of the chapter. I wanted to write more but I feel like I really needed to get something for you guys to read. I also want to apologize for not talking about Katniss' torture like I said I would, but I promise that it will be coming soon.**

**I added the bold part in the middle in. **


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm just letting everyone know that I updated my last chapter, the new parts are in bold.**

Peeta POV

When Katniss and I get to the cafeteria she dropped my hand and picked up a lunch tray, I did the same. We walked through the lunch line filling our trays as we went. When we got to one of the lunch-ladies Katniss looked down at what she was serving, strawberries. She got a distant look in her eyes and the lunch-lady asked, "Miss, would you like some strawberries?" Katniss didn't answer her, she just kept looking at the strawberries. I turned to the lunch-lady and said, "We'll pass." She just nodded her head and gave me a sad smile.

Then I felt someone place their hand on my shoulder. I turn around to find that it was Finnick. "I'll take your trays. You just take care of her." He says nodding to Katniss. "Thanks." I say, then he turns and takes the trays back to wear he was sitting with Annie.

I turn my attention back to Katniss. I wrap my arm around her waist and lead her out of the lunch line. Once we get away from the crowd of people I take my arm from around her waist. I look at my bracelet and it says that Katniss isn't having an attack. That is extremely good because the attacks are only supposed to be triggered by loud noises and there weren't any to set the attack off. If she was having an attack without any loud noises being the cause, she would most likely end up back in therapy.

Katniss just keeps looking at the floor so I tilt her head up a little using my hand, I see that her eyes are filled with tears. "What's wrong?" I ask, my voice filled with concern. She takes a deep breath, trying to contain her tears, "Is it okay to miss someone if you are the reason that they are gone?" "Katniss, what are you talking about?" I ask slowly. When I say this she breaks down and starts sobbing, I pull her in for a hug. I wrap my arms around her as she does with me and I rest my cheek on top of her head. "Madge," she manages to chock out in between sobs. "It's my fault that she's gone Peeta." "Shh…" I say trying to calm her down. "It's okay, it's not your fault." She shakes her head when I say this. "She didn't deserve to die. If anyone deserves to die it's me. All of the people who died in the bombing… it's my fault…"

By this time she is no longer sobbing, the tears just silently stream down her face, so I know that I heard her correctly. I pull her away from me so that see her as I am talking to her. "Katniss that isn't true." I say. "Yes it is. Everyone would be better off if I were dead too. More people would be alive and not every one I know would have to fear for their lives twenty four hours a day." She says back.

"How could you say that? Do you honestly think that I would be better off without you? Without you I am nothing, you're all I have left." She sighs, "Peeta, don't you see? If it wasn't for me your family would still be alive and your home wouldn't be ashes." "I'm going to miss my family and my home," I say, "but you are the most important part of my life. I'm just glad that through all of this you're still okay, I couldn't life with myself if you weren't." I wanted to through an I love you on the end but I don't think that she's ready yet.

When I say all of this she starts crying again. I pull her in for a hug and she wraps her arms around me in return. We stay like this for a few minutes, giving Katniss a chance to calm down. When her tears finally stop falling I lean down and whisper in her ear, "Are you hungry?" She nods her head a little, so I take her hand and lead her over to where Finnick is sitting with Annie.  
When we reach the table I take a seat next to the side of Finnick that doesn't occupy Annie and Katniss sits on the other side of me. Katniss and I start eating but our hands never separate.

"So Peeta," Finnick says, "when will you be joining me in training?" I shrug my shoulders, "Probably sometime within the next few days now that Katniss is out of therapy." I feel Katniss' hand tense in mine. I turn to look at her and she is looking at me shaking her head. "No Peeta, I don't want you to go out there. You could get hurt… you could die…" I squeeze her hand a little. "Hey, I'll be fine as long as you're okay. Let's just worry about this later okay?" I ask. She nods her head a little and goes back to eating lunch. No one says anything for the rest of the time.

Finnick and Annie finish eating before Katniss and I so they gather their trays and Finnick says, "I'll see you guys later?" He asks. He may have asked a simple question but I can see what he really means. He is asking me if I think that Katniss will still be okay at the end of the day. I nod my head, "See you guys later." I say. I watch as Finnick and Annie walk away hand in hand before I turn and look at Katniss.

She is very intently staring at a roll while she has a frown on her face. She tears a small piece of it off and places it in her mouth. She chews it for a moment, swallows it, and turns to me. "Peeta," she says, "I miss the bread that you used to bake for me. This stuff is tastes like I'm eating sandpaper." I smile, a bit of the old Katniss is coming back. "I miss baking for you. Especially the cheese buns-" That all I manage to say before Katniss cuts me off. "I remember!" She says excitedly. "You baked them for me all of the time. They're may favorites, aren't they?" She asks. I nod my head and Katniss wraps her arms around me. "I'm glad I'm remembering more stuff. I don't like not feeling like myself or not remembering the simplest things." She says. "Don't worry." I say reassuringly, "It'll all come back." She nods and lets go of me.

"By the way, if you dip your bread in the stew it tastes a lot better." I say. She picks her roll back up and tears off another piece. She dips it in the stew and eats it. Once she swallow she looks at me, "You're right, it does taste a lot better. Though it still isn't as good as your bread." I smile and we finish the rest of our lunch in silence.

When we finish eating, Katniss and I dump our trays, and head to the compartment that she shares with her family. As we walk hand in hand through the hallways all I can think about is how I am going to find time to talk to Johanna. Katniss yawns and leans her head against her shoulder. "Peeta, I need a nap." She says as she yawns again. "You can take as long of a nap as you want when we get to your room." She nods her head. "Do you have any where that you need to go this afternoon?" She asks. I think about it, this is a really good opportunity to talk to Johanna but I'm not comfortable with leaving Katniss by herself. "I was going to visit Johanna today, you know, to see how she's doing but it can wait." She shakes her head. "I'm just going to take a nap. Plus mom and Prim are going to be home in about an hour. I won't be by myself for very long and I won't be doing anymore than sleeping. Besides, I think that you should go see Johanna no that she's been out of the hospital for a week."

"Are you sure?" I ask. She nods her head, "I'm positive, but I have two conditions." "And what are they?" "One," she starts, "you have to stay with me until I fall asleep." "I was already planning on it." I say honestly. "Okay, and two, you have to carry me to my room." I laugh a little. "Katniss are you that tired?" I ask. She nods, "I haven't done this much walking in a while." She says. "Well, you wouldn't have to walk so much if you would just let us take the elevator." I say jokingly. A sigh escapes her lips, "I'm sorry that I'm such a pain in the ass. I can walk by myself if you want." She says sadly. I feel shocked that she would even she that. "Katniss, I was kidding. I understand why you don't like the elevators. Being under ground is hard enough for you as it is with out the elevators reminding you of the mine shafts. I'm fine with walking with you, in fact, I love it. The more time I get to spend with you the better." I see her smile, letting me know that she isn't upset anymore so I bend down and pick her up bridal stile. She laughs a little, then she yawns and lays her head against my chest.

It takes a little longer to get to her room than it would if we took the elevator instead of the stairs but it's worth it if it makes Katniss feel better. When we get there I look at Katniss to find that she has already fallen asleep. I dig in my pocket for the extra room key of hers that I was given and I open the door. It swings open and I see that there are three beds. Two of them are positioned normally but the third one sits at an odd angle letting me know that it has just been recently added to the room and that it is Katniss' bed. I lay her down and her eyelids flutter open. I lean down and press my lips to her forehead. Then I cover her up with the blankets and brush the hair away from her face. After a minute I can tell that she is asleep and I quietly slip out of her room.

Johanna's room is two floors down from this one and one floor down from mine. Katniss' room is on the second floor, the floor that is right under the main places like the cafeteria and the hospital. My room is on the floor below hers, the third floor, and Johanna's room is on the floor below mine, the fourth floor. I step onto the elevator and press the button that will lower me to Johanna's floor. I hear the familiar ding that lets me know that we are stopping and the elevator doors open. I take a step off of the elevator and walk around on the fourth floor until I come to the door that has the numbers 435 on it, Johanna's room. I take a deep breath and knock. It's now or never.


	9. Chapter 9

Peeta POV

I knock and wait a minute but there's no answer. I knock again. This time Johanna responds. "Piss off and leave me alone!" She yells from inside her room. I feel myself smiling, I'm glad that Johanna hasn't changed. "Johanna its Peeta." I say to her through the door. "What the hell do you want?" She asks angrily. "I just want to talk." I say in response. I hear her moving around in the room before I hear the door being unlocked. It swings open to reveal a very irritated looking Johanna. "Where's your overly emotional girlfriend?" She asks sarcastically. I glare at her, "That's not funny." She shrugs, "Whatever, if you coming in then come in." She steps to the side and I walk past her into the room.

Her room looks like it has been completely destroyed. Shelves that are supposed to be hanging are now on the floor, some are even broken in half. Anything that used to be on top of the dressers or nightstand has been taken of and thrown around the room. I turn to Johanna and raise one of my eyebrows, silently asking what happened. "What?" She snaps. "Everything looked to perfect, so I made some renovations." She gestures around the room before she turns to me and smiles, "What do you think?" She asks sarcastically. I find myself smiling back, "It suites you." I say.

She turns around and jumps onto the bed. She motions for me to sit on the end of the bed, so I sit. "Now," she says, "what do you want to talk about?" I open my mouth to speak but she cuts me off. "Wait," she holds up a finger telling me not to talk, "I have a feeling that this is about brainless, and since you came to ME about HER, it has to be something that only I can answer. Am I correct?" She asks. "Sort of…" I say, trailing off at the end. She laughs a little, "Annie doesn't count, she didn't go through half of the things that we went through." I sigh, she does know what I'm talking about. "Johanna, if you're not comfortable talking about it then we don't have to talk about it. I just wanted to know what they did to her." She shrugs her shoulders, "I don't like talking about it but I knew that you would be coming here asking about it. I feel like I need to tell you what happened." "Thank you." I say honestly. She waves of my response as nothing and then she starts talking.

"When we first got there we were all in one hospital room, strapped down to the tables. If you thought that I don't like to be restrained you should have seen how Brainless handled it. When she first woke up the first thing that she said was her name. She was asking any nurse or doctor that came in where you were or if you were okay. None of them answered, they all just ignored her. She obviously took it the wrong way, thinking that they had you and that they were hurting you. She flipped out. She struggled with the restraints so much that they cut her wrists. They rushed in and sedated her. She was out for a few hours, just long enough for them to patch up her wrists, but the entire time she was out she kept mumbling your name, I asked them to shut her up but they ignored me."

"She was worried about me?" I ask. She laughs, "Worried is a bit of an understatement. She was driving herself crazy just thinking about you. We were in the hospital for three days. Then after that I was physically tortured the entire time. Katniss wasn't so lucky." "What do you mean?" I ask. She sighs, "Katniss was only physically tortured physically for three days. They found out that if she new anything then she wouldn't tell if it was only herself at risk. That was when they started using mental torture. At first they just told her that they were holding you and if she didn't cooperate then they would torture you. She was smart enough to know that they were bluffing, but she made the mistake of telling them that. They injected her with tracker jacker venom." I cut in, "How do you know all of this?" I ask. "When they weren't torturing me they made me watch, they told me that if I gave then information that they would stop torturing her."

I feel myself getting angry but it's not Johanna's fault, the only one at fault is the Capitol. "Okay, what else happened?" She takes a deep breath and continues. "The tracker venom made her believe them. She cried and screamed and begged. They took me back to my torture but I saw her that night." "How?" I ask. "We weren't moved into the cells that you guys found us in until the morning that the rescue took place. Before then we all shared a cell." She says. I nod my head to let her know that I understand and that she can continue. "When I saw her that night she was crying really badly. She told me what they told her but I managed to clam her down by telling her that unless they had proof that they were lying.

"They made a video overnight that night. They showed it to her. In the video they tortured you and begging Katniss to help you. When she showed up that night I knew that there was nothing I could do to make her believe that they didn't have you so I just let her sleep. That went on for two days but on the fifth day of mental torture they showed her a video. In that video you died from the amount of torture they had done to you. They let Katniss and I out of our torture sessions early that day. For the rest of the day she was shaking, murmuring things, and shaking with her hands over her ears. I overheard a little of what she was saying. 'Peeta's gone. I love him, and he's gone.' Just over and over and over. They moved us into the separate cells the next morning, the morning of the day that the rescue took place. They moved us because Katniss was going to do an interview and she didn't want to be moved unless Annie and I went with her. She wanted us to be in the next room over." "Did they do anything to Annie? She looked fine at lunch." "Annie was only there to mess with Finnick." She says.

I take a minute to think over everything that she told me. Katniss said that she loves me. "Johanna, thanks for telling me." "Not a problem Lover Boy." I stand up to leave when all of the sudden an alarm starts blaring. "What's that?" I ask. She shrugs her shoulders and a loud voice come over the speakers, "There is a bomb threat from the Capitol. Please, stay calm and make your way to the bomb shelter immediately." Johanna stands up and makes her way to the door with me following her. Then my bracelet goes off, Katniss is having an attack.


	10. Chapter 10

Peeta POV

I look up from my beeping bracelet to Johanna. By the look on her face she knows exactly what is going on. We race out into the hallway and down to the end with the stairs. The only problem is that Katniss is two floors above this one and all of the people on the stairs are going down to the bomb shelters, we need to go up. I turn to Johanna and she nods, knowing what I want her to do. She races up the stairs pushing and shoving people to get them out of her way while yelling, "We need to get to the Mockingjay, MOVE!" They all move out of our way fairly quickly.

When we make it to Katniss' floor I instantly hear screaming coming from her room. I quickly take out my key and open the door. I see Katniss sitting on her bed with her hands balled into fists, pressed over her ears, her eyes closed tightly. She is screaming, and every few seconds she screams my name. I rush over to her and pick her up. "Johanna, we need to move before the bombs hit." Between Katniss screaming and the sound of the alarm I don't know how she heard me but she did and a few seconds later we are running down the halls with Katniss in my arms.

We make it down three floors before the alarms stop. Katniss stops screaming but she starts shaking and her hands never leave her ears. We run down staircase after staircase until finally we reach the bomb shelter. They close the doors after we enter and lock them tight. I turn to Johanna, "Thanks." "No problem." She says, then she walks off to find her station. I walk around for a minute until I find my station. I set Katniss down on the bed, then I sit down and pull her onto my lap. I put my hands over hers, which are over her ears, and I rub circles on the backs of them with my thumbs. Slowly her hands relax and fall away from her ears and her eyes open.

"Peeta?" She whispers. "Yes Katniss?" I reply. "Stay with me?" She asks, her voice thick with tears. "Always." I say. Slowly her face inches towards mine until our lips meet. It feels like forever since Katniss and I have kissed but it is perfect. Or at least it was until the first bomb hit.

Katniss immediately pulled away from me. I could tell that the tracker jacker venom was enhancing Katniss' fear of her father's mine explosion because normally she wouldn't have reacted that badly. The whole room shook and Katniss closed her eyes and covered her ears with her fists again.

I knew that there wasn't anything that I could do for her so I just pulled her onto my lap and held her until the bombings passed. It took awhile but eventually the bombs stopped coming. By that time, Katniss was trembling and sobbing on my shoulder. I comfortingly rubbed my hand up and down her back until she stopped. I looked down, only to find that she had fallen asleep with her head on my shoulder.


	11. Chapter 11

**I know it's short but I really wanted to update so I could let everyone know that I plan on trying to stay on top of my stories more now that summer is here. I also want to apologize for neglecting my story. I hard a very hard year at school (starting high school and all) and that made it very hard for me to find time to write. So again, I wanted to apologize to everyone and thank you all for sticking with my story, I really appreciate it.**

I fell asleep shortly after Katniss and when I woke up the next morning she was still there. I gently woke her up and brought her over to a little station where they were handing out breakfasts in little brown paper bags. I checked to make sure that neither of our bags contained strawberries before I led us back over to where we had slept. We sat side by side on the mattress and ate quietly. When we finished I gathered up our trash, threw it away, and went back over to Katniss.

She cleared her throat awkwardly, "I…uh, I'm sorry for freaking out last night." I shrugged my shoulders, "It's perfectly understandable." Katniss sighed and rested her head on my shoulder, "That's the thing, it's not. What happened to the old Katniss? The one who used to be tough and not take shit from anyone? I want her back. I want to be me again." I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "Well get her back, I promise."

Katniss shook her head, "I'm not going to wait around for that to happen." Then she rose up off the bed and turned to me, "Are you coming?" "Where?" I asked. Her eyes got a mischievous glint in them, "I need to talk to Plutarch."

I went with her and helped her search the bomb shelter until we spotted him with Haymitch. "I need to speak with you Plutarch." Katniss said, sounding like her old self again. Plutarch smiled, "Right this way." He led us over to a small room that looked like it would be used for any meetings they might need to have while in the bomb shelter.

"What is it that you wanted to speak to me about?" Plutarch asked as Haymitch entered the room and closed the door behind him. "I want to help. I want to get my revenge on the Capitol for screwing with my head." She said. "How do you plan on getting this revenge?" He asked, interested. "Give me a bow, send me to the Capitol. I want to fight." I shook my head, "It's to dangerous." Katniss raised her eyebrows at my comment, "I survived to arenas, remember?" "I'm not talking about that. Any loud noises can trigger your attacks. Do you know how loud a war zone can get? Guns and explosions will definitely trigger something." "He's got a point Sweetheart." Haynitch interrupted.

Katniss turned towards Plutarch again. "Could you make me some ear plugs or something that will block out all the noise?" Plutarch thought on it, "I don't see why not." Katniss smiled, "Good, once those get done I can start training." "I want to come to, if she goes I go." Haymitch rolled his eyes, "We know, we know… after two games of this I think we finally learned not to split you two up."

"It's settled then. I'll get a squad together for you to go with." Plutarch said with a smile before walking out of the room. I turned to Katniss. She looked more like her old self. She was standing taller, more confident. He eyes held the same fire that they used to. For once in a very long time, I felt hope. The hope that could only come from the return of the Mockingjay.


End file.
